Edmonton Girl, Miami Surgery - Miami, FL

Hi! I'm Irene and I live in Edmonton, Alberta,...

29 Jul 2013

23 days pre

Hi! I'm Irene and I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Im 21 years old. This is my surgery story!

Summer 2009. It all began about 4 years ago, I started to really dislike my nose! I went to Thailand for vacation with my parents and brought along my girlfriend. She also did not like her nose and together we planned to have surgery in Bangkok, Thailand. My mom took us to Pratunam Polyclinic. From what I read online in reviews, this clinic had been around a long time. My mom had gone there for at least 1 of her surgeries, but many many years ago. In all she has had rhinoplasty, breast augmentation and eyelid surgery. Inside it looked like a small dark library; shelves of books covered all the walls of the room. Their was a few people waiting in seats. We went to the front desk and my mom told the receptionists that me and my friend were looking to get our noses done. They told us we could have our surgery as early as the next day. This made me uneasy. We then went into the doctors office which was also the surgery room. We talked to the doctor who spoke fluent english. He showed pictures on his computer of rhinoplasties he had performed. Many were foreigners. The surgery would only be $400 Canadian. He told me my nose was fine and I didnt need surgery but he could improve it if I really wanted to. The thought of having my nose done there scared me! I chickened out and didn't end up getting the surgery. My friend also decided against after a few days.

Months later back in Canada, I visited a local surgeon by the name of Dr. Keohane. I was surprised to learn of the cost. I believe he quoted me at $7000-$8000. I didn't get the greatest impression of the doctor and again put the surgery on the back burner. After the visit, I received many calls from his office asking if I wanted to have the surgery.

Fast forward to Fall 2012. My friend that had come to Thailand with me years before tells me she has her rhinoplasty booked here in Edmonton. I couldnt believe it. It was surreal. Her surgery day came and I went to visit 2 days after. Her face was so swollen right up to her eyeballs! She looked like she had been hit by a bus haha. Her nose also looked gigantic underneath the splint.. in my head I pictured it turning out worse than it was. Exactly a week after her surgery I went with her to her doctors office to take off the splint. The splint had dried blood on it, you would think the nose was still messed up. He took it off and it was all clean and healed underneath. She went to Dr. Campbell and because she works at the doctors office across from them she got a discount. Her surgery was $5000+. For awhile I thought it looked really weird but each time I saw her it looked better and seemed to suit her more. I do agree it looks alot better than before. She too feels that way and says she would do it all over again.

Seeing my friend go through her surgery and end up with good results got me thinking about my nose again. Some days it doesnt bother me. I dont HATE my nose.. I just feel like it can be better. I am half thai and half scottish irish. A lot of women in Thailand get their noses done and many I have seen end up with beautiful results. This is somewhat reassuring.

A coworker this past winter went to Miami, Florida to have her breasts done along with some other girls. A few months ago she mentioned she had plans to return with a different group of girls and to have her breasts redone bigger. I thought it was a great idea and decided to join, along with one of my girlfriends.

The other 4 girls are going to see Dr. Revis. He is known to do amazing work with breast augmentations but doesnt do many rhinoplasties. He charges under $5000 for rhino which is super affordable but I just didnt like his rhinoplasty work all that much. I chose to research some more and find another surgeon. I came upon Dr. Jeffrey Epstein. He specializes in rhinoplasty and only does facial surgeries. His work looked great and he seemed like an overall great surgeon. I talked back and forth with a man from his office named Jon who was super helpful. I was disappointed to find out the cost at $8500, which would be just as much as here in my city if not more; but with him being the best I had found I decided it was worth it. I stressed for weeks.. thinking about how I would have to save every penny just to have enough to cover the whole trip and surgery... being over $10,000.

A month or so later after I had already sent my deposit to Dr. Epsteins office, I started watching a show; The Real Housewives of Miami..lol. On the show there is a woman named Lisa who is married to a plastic surgeon. After watching a bit into the season I decided to look at Dr. Hochstein's website out of curiosity. His rhinoplasty work looked amazing and I really liked that he had many before/after photos of younger women. I emailed them to find out a quote and was shocked when I was told $5500!! More affordable than I could of hoped. Luckily for me my deposit with the other surgeon was refundable up until two weeks before surgery. Jon wasnt happy but he was understanding and agreed that if I felt like Dr. Hochstein was just as great of a surgeon as Dr. Epstein than yes I totally should go for the lower cost. Conclusion: They're both amazing! I would feel comfortable having my surgery in either hands but I am going to go with Dr. Hochstein because it is in my price range.

July 29, 2013: Only 21 days til I go to Miami.. 23 til my surgery. Flight booked, rental booked, all surgery cost paid for. I'm going with 5 other girls, 4 which are also getting surgery but with Dr. Revis as mentioned earlier! All breast augs. Only sucky thing is I have my surgery the 3rd day we're there and the other girls are after the weekend.. so unfortunately I dont get to go out with them all weekend and experience Miami. I had to move my surgery date earlier on in the trip because I got stuck with a later surgery date initally which would of meant staying in Miami after everyone had left back to Canada. I decided to sacrifice partying so I could leave at the same time. On a more positive note at least I'm that much closer to my new nose! and back to work and making money lol. I still plan to go shopping and to the beach, I will still make the most of my trip! :D

Im excited, I want it to be time to go already! Im unsure about what to expect.. do I show him pictures of noses that I like?? or do I trust him and his idea of what will suit me.

Will update closer to the date!
and add pictures! Ill have to take some new ones because most pics I have I have edited it to hide my nose lol!

Surgery done!

22 Aug 2013

Day of treatment

I had my surgery today! Everything went well.. I was out before I knew it and than woke up what felt like a few minutes later. I did hyperventilate a bit I think because I was shocked and also couldnt really open my eyes so that added to the surprise. Then I was told that the pain meds would take up to 45 minutes to kick in so that made me upset because I was in pain. It did start to subside and than i went and slept for a few hours on and off until my friends came to pick me up. My nose is super swollen right now, looks bigger than before. Im not worried about it though because same thing happened to my girlfriend in Edmonton and after a week it was way smaller. I go in tomorrow at 11:30 to have the packing taken out :) The two nurses Bianca and Yuda at Dr. Hochsteins were so so nice and I was thankful to have them looking after me. Also Jennifer the out of town patient coordinator has been incredibly sweet and helpful throughout my process. I would recommend this office solely for those reasons, and than still to come how my nose turns out!!

Day 2

23 Aug 2013

1 day post

Super swollen tip. Had my packing taken out today. Bruising is more intense than yesterday. Waiting game!

Splint off!

27 Aug 2013

5 days post

Got my splint off today 2 days early. Its still swollen, feels like something foreign on my face! But I'm super happy with it, turned out better than I even had pictured or expected. I'm excited to see it day by day as the swelling goes down.

Some more before photos

27 Aug 2013

5 days post

Interested in rhinoplasty again!

11 Nov 2015

2 years post

I had deleted all of my pictures from this profile long ago but I'm gonna add them again :) I'm 24 years old now and I had my surgery just over 2 years ago! My nose is so much better now but its still not the ideal nose that I want. It was a really long time before I liked my nose after the original rhinoplasty. The entire year of recovery I didn't like it all that much. It's true when they say it takes a full year to heal. What I don't like about my nose right now is mostly the bridge. I feel like its too low and it should be higher.

Looking back I wish I had been more descriptive with Dr. Hochstein about what I wanted.

I'm open to getting rhino again to get the look that I want! I'm thinking sometime within this next year.